Best parks for Bay Area camping, in a great season for it

Ben Johnson reaches out to touch the roots of a giant redwood tree that fell in Big Basin Redwoods State Park.

Ben Johnson reaches out to touch the roots of a giant redwood tree...

It’s been a cooped-up kind of winter. Yeah, we desperately needed the rain. We were drying up without the rain. Once rain arrived, we reveled in it, holing up for entire weekends listening to the drops pound the roof while we sat on the couch with a double manhattan and a Jack Reacher thriller. (OK, that’s me, but I suspect I was not alone.)

Still, at some point, you say, enough. You long to swap drizzle for sunshine, clouds for blue sky and sedentary couch lolling for hikes and rock climbs and sleeping under the stars.

We are here to tell you that in the Bay Area, that time has arrived. This may be the best camping season in decades. Winter rains have turned parks spectacularly verdant. Some trails may be closed from storm damage for a while, but you’ll still have plenty of hiking options. Hillsides are green, streams are full, waterfalls are splashing, and this year’s spring wildflower season promises to be a showstopper.

So, if you’re a camper, a former camper, a person who thought she or he might want to be a camper but wasn’t entirely sure, now is the time. Below we present the 16 best parks in the Bay Area or just a short drive beyond — where you don’t have to drive four hours to “get outdoors” — to set up a tent, unroll a sleeping bag, hit the trail and roast s’mores. Remember, too — there’s no law that says you can’t bring manhattan makings and a paperback thriller camping with you. No law at all.

Best of Bay Area camping

Click to see more about each location:

BEACH

New Brighton State Beach

New Brighton State Beach, Capitola

BEACH

Irene Bernheisel of Santa Cruz helps her 3-month-old son, Lucca, dip his feet in the water.

Alex Washburn, The Chronicle

What we like about this park is, paradoxically, that its campground is not directly on the beach but on a coastal bluff. That means you’re spared the sandblast effect you often get when you stake your tent right next to the surf and the wind comes up. At New Brighton, the beach is just a short stroll away, and it’s a beauty, a curve of Monterey Bay shoreline that extends south to adjacent Seacliff State Beach — home to the proud but increasingly battered World War I vintage cement ship, SS Palo Alto, still to be glimpsed beneath the breakers by the pier.

Runner-up: Doran Regional Park, Bodega Bay. The Sonoma Coast is famously (and beautifully) craggy, but we like this park because it has an actual sandy beach — 2 miles of it, in fact, perfect for strolling. 132 tent/RV sites. Reserve at (707) 565-2267 or www.sonomacountycamping.org.

Dogs and the outdoors have become a fraught issue in the Bay Area; witness the prolonged imbroglio over canines in the Golden Gate National Recreation Area. So finding a park that welcomes pooches is a plus. One good one in the East Bay is Anthony Chabot Regional Park. Dogs have to stay on leash here — that’s true of nearly all parks in the Bay Area. But once on leash, they can accompany you (and exhaust themselves) on 31 miles of hiking trails that lope across the East Bay hills. Another plus: this park is relatively close — if your dog is the kind of dog that gets carsick, there’s less chance of that spoiling your camping trip before you even get to the campground.

Runner-up: Mount Madonna County Park, Watsonville. On-leash dogs will love this promontory’s 14 miles of trails. Will they love the spectacular views? We think so — and so will you. 118 tent/RV sites; 5 yurts. Reserve at (408) 842-2341; www.sccgov.org/sites/parks.

When it comes to backpacking, size matters. You want big, you want expansive, you want to feel like you’re Cheryl Strayed on the Pacific Crest Trail ready to hike for hundreds of miles even if you’re only planning to go 5. That’s what makes Henry Coe such a premiere backpacking destination. It’s big — at 87,000 acres, it’s the largest in Northern California, and 23,000 of those acres are designated wilderness. With 250 miles of trails winding over beautiful rolling hills, backpackers have lots of options; they can hike to designated backpacking camps, or, in the park’s backpacking zones, camp where they like. This is a spring or fall destination; it gets hot in the summer.

Backpackers walk along a path near the Hunting Hollow Entrance.

Alex Washburn, The Chronicle

Sandra Whalen of Salinas makes her way down one of the many trails.

Alex Washburn, The Chronicle

Tim Coogan and Alex Hua of Mountain View make their way through one of the streams.

Alex Washburn, The Chronicle

Byron Jones and his 17-year-old horse 'Old Bull' pause for a moment at a stream.

Runner-up: Wildcat Camp Hike-In, Point Reyes National Seashore. You backpack to Wildcat via a trail that is just long enough (6.3 miles from Bear Valley) to make you feel you’re working, and so filled with beautiful beach and ocean and hill views you won’t even mind. Five individual sites. Reserve at (877) 444-6777 or www.recreation.gov.

Especially in spring, this pretty park is entirely pleasing on its own, with 10 miles of trails that lead alongside a creek, through redwoods, up to the top of Coyote Peak and to adjacent, historic Bale Grist Mill State Historic Park. But notice how Highway 29 runs along the park’s east boundary. After you’ve done your hike, all of the Napa Valley is there for your enjoyment — wineries, St. Helena shopping and restaurants, Calistoga mud baths. And you’ve wisely saved so much money by opting for a campsite (or one of the park’s 10 yurts) instead of a fancy boutique hotel, you can afford to do everything.

Runner-up: Butano State Park, Pescadero. Here’s the recipe for camping happiness. You pitch your tent among the towering redwoods of this San Mateo County park and then, for lunch or dinner, you head down Highway 1 to that classic coast-side stop, Duarte’s Tavern, for cream of artichoke or cream of green chile soup (or combine ’em both for a half-and-half) and berry pie. 21 tent/RV sites; 18 walk-in; 8 hike-in. Reserve at (800) 444-7275 or www.parks.ca.gov.

What you want in a kid-friendly camping trip is to give kids the chance to be completely wowed by nature, learn a little and have a lot of fun. This venerable Santa Cruz Mountains park — established in 1902, it’s the oldest in the state system — scores on all counts. The wow factor comes from the stands of coast redwoods, Sequoia sempervirens, many of them more than 1,000 years old, that the park was established to protect. Even the easy ½-mile walk on the Redwood Loop Trail amazes, leading you to titans like the towering Father of the Forest (250 feet tall) and the Mother of the Forest (293 feet). Learning happens in the park’s visitor center and its sweet little natural history museum; also on the busy schedule of ranger-led hikes. Fun comes from the hikes, exposure to brilliantly ooky banana slugs, and kids being able to ask parents, You mean these trees are even older than you are?

Redwood trees line a trail.

Tony Avelar, Special To The Chronicle

Shalese Miller walks on top of the giant roots of a fallen redwood tree as her mother, Jerri Miller, walks around it.

Runner-up: China Camp State Park, San Rafael. Great for kids because it’s not a long drive, it’s right on the shores of San Pablo Bay, and there’s the fascinating remnants of an 19th century Chinese fishing village to explore. 30 walk-in tent sites. Reserve at (800) 444-7275 or www.reserveamerica.com.

A possibly controversial choice, anointing man-made splendor above giant trees and waterfalls and beauty shaped only by nature. But Angel Island’s urban views — of the San Francisco skyline and the Golden Gate from the Ridge Sites, of the East Bay from the East Bay and Sunrise Sites — are so dazzling they’ll make even the cynical fall in love with the Bay Area all over again. You do have to work for the scenery. You’ll need to get yourself and your gear on the ferry to the island; then from the landing it’s a 1- to 2-mile hike to the campsites. The views are worth it.

Runner-up: Salt Point State Park, Fort Ross. On the Sonoma Coast, Salt Point scores for its own cove-and-cliff-and-ocean beauty, and for its proximity to two other beauty spots: Kruse Rhododendron State Natural Reserve (the rhodies normally begin blooming in late April), and that fascinating outpost of Russian empire, Fort Ross State Historic Park. 109 tent/RV sites; 20 walk-in tent sites; 10 hike-in/bike-in sites. Reserve at (800) 444-7275 or www.reserveamerica.com.

With 7 million people in the greater Bay Area, many of whom camp, calling any place “hidden” is a tricky. Still, Sugarloaf gets far fewer campers than the region’s most popular parks. One possible reason is that Sugarloaf gets hot in the summer. But it’s glorious in spring, its trails winding across rolling green hills. A short detour off the two-mile Canyon Pony Gate Loop trail will take you to a fine waterfall. If you want a strenuous hike with views, make the 5.6-mile trek up and down Bald Mountain: on a clear day, you can see across the Sacramento Valley to the Sierra. Nighttime views are literally stellar, thanks to the programs at the park’s Robert Ferguson Observatory, which last year added a new 40-inch telescope.

Day hiker Tom Stedman makes his way over a small concrete bridge.

Alex Washburn, The Chronicle

Paxton and Zo Rice of Petaluma run across a bride near the Godspeed Trailhead.

Runner-up: Joseph D. Grant County Park, San Jose. On the flanks of Mount Hamilton, it’s not precisely hidden, but it’s a big, beautiful park (lovely especially in spring) that, as a county park, gets fewer visitors than state parks of equal merit. Grant’s 10,882 acres hold 51 miles of trails, many open to mountain bikes. 40 tent/RV sites; Reserve at (408) 355-2201 or www.gooutsideandplay.org.

This Marin County gem is 30 miles from Union Square, 12 miles from San Rafael. But once you pay your fee and find your campsite, you feel you’re hundreds of miles, and maybe a century or two, away from home. Most of the campsites cluster along Lagunitas Creek, among dense stands of coast redwoods that are as beautiful as any to be found in California. The trails that parallel the creek are gentle and great for kids (and there’s a paved path that is good for easy cycling). If you want something more challenging, take the Devil’s Gulch Trail into the park’s uplands. And who was Samuel P. Taylor? A New Yorker who came to California in the Gold Rush, then prospered as a paper mill owner; as it happens, he didn’t have anything to do with establishing his namesake park in the 1940s, but feel free to thank him anyway.

Joel Talevi and Molly Bradshaw of San Francisco relax in front of a camp fire.